OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is expecting a new arrival this fall.
According to KOCO-TV, the zoo announced Wednesday that Kayin, a 6-year-old okapi, is pregnant with her first calf. Bosomi, 4, fathered the baby-to-be, the zoo said in a news release on the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau’s website.
The baby’s arrival will mark the first okapi birth at the zoo since Kayin was born in 2015, officials said.
“We are extremely excited about Kayin’s pregnancy and cannot wait to see her caring for her own calf,” the zoo’s hoofstock and primate curator, Tracey Dolphin, said in a statement. “An okapi birth is a significant event not only for our animal family but for the okapi population as a whole.”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources considers okapis endangered. An estimated 10,000 to 50,000 okapis remain in the wild, and their population is decreasing, according to the organization’s website.
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